Project Safe Neighborhoods Reduces Violent Crime

Violent Crime Reduction

Cities (pop. > 100K)

Violent Crime Rate

With PSN (n =82)

-4.1%

Without PSN (n =170)

-0.9%

Researchers analyzed violent crime statistics in cities with populations greater than 100,000. Comparing 82 PSN ("target")
cities to 170 ("non-target") cities that did not implement PSN, they found a 4.1-percent decline in violent crime in cities
where PSN was implemented compared to a 0.9-percent decline in cities where it was not.

Level of Federal Prosecution

Level of Federal Prosecution

Violent Crime Rate

High

-13.1 percent

Low

+7.8 percent

The researchers also used crime statistics to analyze whether the level of PSN implementation — for example, the level of
federal prosecution against gun crime — affected violent crime. They found a 13.1-percent decrease in violent crime in PSN
target cities with a high level of federal prosecution. In stark contrast, during this same period of time, they found an
increase of 7.8 percent in violent crime in nontarget cities in low federal prosecution districts.

Case Studies Show Reduction in Gun Violence

In their second evaluation strategy to determine if PSN worked, the researchers conducted in-depth analyses of nine target
cities: Durham, Greensboro, and Winston-Salem (N.C.), Lowell (Mass.), St. Louis (Mo.), Chicago (Ill.), Stockton (Calif.),
and Montgomery and Mobile (Ala.). In these individual case studies, the researchers were able to go beyond general violent
crime statistics to specifically consider data on gun-related crime. Each of the nine sites showed a decline in gun-related
violence after PSN was implemented. Here are the findings from six sites:

Decline in Gun Crime by City

City

Decline in Gun Crime

Chicago

Very significant decline in gun crime in police districts that implemented PSN compared to neighboring districts.

Stockton

Significant decline in gun crime compared to other California cities.

Mobile

Decline in admissions to the trauma center for gunshot wounds and a significant decline in gun crime compared to the trend
in property crime.

Montgomery

Significant decline in gun crime compared to the trend in property crime.

Durham

Decline in gun violence, although it was not statistically significant.

Project Safe Neighborhood is a nationwide program that NIJ-funded research has shown to be effective at reducing violence.
Several factors emerged as key to PSN's impact on reducing violent crime.

United States Attorney's Office leadership. The level of involvement among the country's 94 federal judicial districts varied widely; however, the researchers found
that, in target cities where there were high levels of PSN implementation, there was a correspondingly high level of commitment
by the United States Attorney's Office.

Crossagency buy-in. The most successful PSN task forces showed what the researchers called “distributed leadership,” that is, active buy-in to
the program among key agency leaders, such as the chief of police, the local prosecutor, the chief of probation and parole,
and the mayor or city manager.

Flexibility. PSN recognized that relying exclusively on increased federal gun prosecution would have limited value, since most gun crime
is prosecuted in state and local courts. PSN also recognized that, because there are significant differences among U.S. communities
in the level and nature of gun crime, the program needed to be able to adapt to the needs of each local jurisdiction. To allow
jurisdictions maximum flexibility, PSN was built around five basic components:

Partnerships: among law enforcement agencies, state and federal prosecutors, parole and probation agencies, and community groups (some
of these partnerships resulted in joint case reviews, chronic violent offender lists, offender notification meetings and directed
police patrols in hot spots).